HSP Season 5, Episode 3 Recap

David Benyamine was the big winner on the third episode of the fifth season of "High Stakes Poker", while Daniel Negreanu ended up as the biggest loser.

On the first two episodes of Season 5, Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Peter Eastgate largely dominated the action.

On the third episode, the "young guns" (Dwan, Sahamies, Eastgate) were pretty much invisible, while names such as Brunson, Benyamine and Elezra dominated the action.

There were three big hands that took place during this episode, with the largest of the season (a 416k pot between Negreanu and Benyamine) occurring right at the end of the show.

The first hand of the show got things off to a fast start, as Doyle Brunson and Eli Elezra both found themselves all-in before the flop.

Brunson held K-K, while Elezra held 9-9.

The two players agreed to run it twice. The pocket Kings held up on the first deal, while Elezra managed to catch a heart flush on the river to win the second deal. Elezra and Brunson ended up splitting the 196k pot.

The second big hand of the show saw Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu squaring off against each other in a 152k pot.

After Negreanu limped in from early position, Greenstein raised from the button and Negreanu elected to call. Greenstein held J-10 offsuit, while Negreanu held the A-8 of spades.

The flop came 8-9-Q, giving Greenstein the nut straight and Negreanu a pair of eights.

Negreanu checked, Greenstein bet $5,500 and Negreanu called.

The turn was the ace of hearts, which gave Negreanu two pair.

Negreanu checked again, Greenstein bet $15,000 and Negreanu called.

The river was the King of spades, which improved Greenstein to an Ace-high straight.

Negreanu checked once again, Greenstein bet $50,000, and Negreanu eventually called after some deliberation. Greenstein showed the nut straight and scooped the $152k pot.

The final hand of the episode ended up producing the largest pot of the season so far.

The players at the table had just agreed to raise the blinds to $500/$1000 with a $200 ante.